Flexible rolling closure for cabinets



Aug. 14, 1951 w, D' BKN 2,564,197

' FLEXIBLE ROLLING CLOSURE FOR CABINETS Filed April 14, 1945Z-Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY W. J. DOBKIN FLEXIBLE ROLLING CLOSURE FORCABINETS Aug. 14, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 14, 1945 6 6 fi 7 27 Z 7 l w a 2 l 7 GU T- Patented Aug. 14, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENTQF'FICE FLEXIBLE ROLLING onosurm on CABINETS William J. Dobkin, JacksonHeights, N. Y. A lication Aoriiii. 1945, Serial. No. seesaw 3 Claims.(01. 312-297 The present invention relates to. cabinet 010- sures, andmore particularly to the door-structure. of, cabinets of the generaltype, such. as those which are employed in kitchens, laboratories andthe like, and. which are usually installed be-. tween thev ceiling. andthe sink or. working. counter.

In order to open. or close. the ordinary hinged door on a wall cabinet,closet or cupboard, it is, necessary for a person to step. bacl;sulilciently to. clear the swinging, door. This may be inconvenient,especially where. the space. in front oi the. cabinet. is restricted, asin the case of, small; pantries. Also, these doors are very oftenthroughtlessly left aj art, and are thereby a, source of facial or headaccidents. Moreover, when a hinged cabinet door is opened, the fullheight of the interior of. the cabinet is exposed, evenv though accessto the lower shelves alone is re.- quired, so that. the wholev interioris unnecessarily'exposed to dust, fumes, etc. The articles morefrequently handled are usually stored in the lower shelves. of thecabinet, so that it israrely necessary to gain access to the. uppershelves of said. cabinet. I

one object. of. the present invent is to p o: vide a new and improvedclosure for a. cabinet of the general typereierred to.

Another object is to provide a flexible cabinet closure structure of therolling type, which elirne inates. the disadvantage of. a hinged doorstrod tore, which can. be easily and conveniently inariipulated, which.can be. operated so. that only selected portions of the cabinet from.the bottom up are exposed, which canv be, easily mounted in. av cabinetframe or dismounted. therefrom, as. a unit, which maintains the dooragainst drift,- ing movement, which occupies av minimum of spacev in theinterior of. the cabinet, and which lends itself effectively toornamental design Various other objects, features and advantages of the.invention will be. apparent from the following particular description,and from an. inspection of the accompanyin drawin s. in which:

Fig, 1. is a partial front elevation of a cabinet.

which has. a'flexible door structure embodying the present invention,and which is shown with parts of the front. Wall broken away to revealpart of the reel mechanism behind said wall;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section. of the cabinet taken along the lines 2. 2oi'Fig, I;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view showing details of the reel mechanism for theflexible door;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the reel device taken along the lines 44of Fig. l, but shown on a larger scale;

Fig. 5 is a detailed section ofthe stop mechanism for predeterminingthelimiting open and closed nositions. of the i legible door;

Fig. 6. is. a face elevation with parts broken away showing a clutch.mechanism by which the flexible door is automatically maintained in anyselected open. position without the necessity of applying manual holdingforce;

Fig, '1 is a. radial section through the clutch mechanism.

Referring to. the drawings, the present invention is shown for thepurpose of illustration applied to. a cabinet, closet or cupboard, IU ofthe general type, such as that which is. supported n the w lls f akitchen or laboratory above the. floor. Such a cabinet, for example,would be supported. above a kitchen. a wall table or a laboratorycounter. and would, be of. such height. that the interior of saidcabinetwould'. be accessible to a. person standing up without. thenecessity of bending down. This cabinet. HT

is shown comprising a rear wall II, and av front wall L2 provided withone or more rectangular door openings. it, two of these being shown.disposed alongside of each. other: It must be understood, however, thatany num er of these door openings l3 disposed side by side may beprovided according to the size of the cabinet.

Each. of the door'openingg I3 is framed on its sides by stiles orupright front. Wall frame pieces I [4,, along the top by a cross, frontwall frame piece 15,, and along the bottom by a, cross. front wall framepiece or. sill. It. The am p I15 conjioint fy form. a continuous,comparatively wide panel across, the top of the, cabinet to, and theframe pieces or sills t6 conjointl'y form a Continuous, comparativelynarrow panel acrossthe bottom. of the cabinet.

The cabinet [0' is show rovided w t h usual vertically spaced horizontalshelves IT supported therein in any well-known manner, and dividing saidcabinet into a series of superposed storage compartments. 7

As a feature of the present invention, each of the door openings t3 isclosedby a flexible rolling door or closure 21] having its upper endsecured to a reel device 2;! on which it can be wound for openingmovement, or from which it can be unwound for closing movement.

The flexible rolling door 20 may be of the type such as that commonlyused in roll-top desks,

canvas backing 22 may be eliminated, and the strips or slats 23 may belinked together.

The reel device 2| on which the upper end of the flexible door 2|! issecured and wound, is mounted on a bracket 25, shown in the form of a U,and having a pair of side arms 21 interconnected by a cross member 28removably supported on the inner'face of the upper door frame l5. Forremovably supporting the bracket 26 in potening means visible from theoutside of the upper door frame piece I5, there is secured to the innerface of said door frame piece a plurality of fingers or hooks 32, andthe cross-piece 28 of the bracket 25 is provided with a correspondingplurality of holes 33. Each of the hooks 32 is shown with a shank 34affixed to the inner face of the door frame piece 15 by any suitablemeans, as for example, by welding, and with afinger 35 extendingobliquely upwardly from said shank. The bracket 25 with the reelassembly 2| supported thereon is removably hung on the hooks 32, asshown in Fig. 4, with their fingers 35 extending through respectivebracket holes 33, and will be firmly retained in this mounted positionuntil it is desired to dismount the bracket and the reelassemblyifrom'the cabinet wall.

The reel device 2| includes an axle 3'! which is supported for rotationonthe side bracket arms 27 through a trunnion andbearing arrangement tobe described, and which has rigidly secured thereto a pair of reel discs38. The sides of the upper end of the flexible door 28 are secured tothese two reel discs 38 respectively.

j In order to wind the flexible door 20 neatly about the reel discs 33without any radial oifsets orbulges in the wound section of said door,each of these reel discs has a spiral periphery 4E and the end of saidflexible door is secured to said periphery near the base section of itsradially offset section 4|. The door 25 is secured to the reel discs 38near this reel disc section by any suitable means, as for example, bymeans of fastening pins 42 pass'ingthrough the end door slats 23, andthrough the peripheral flanges of said reel discs.

The flexible door 20 is held along its sides close to the inner edges ofthe stiles I4 by means of guides 45. These guides '45 may be in the formof angle irons secured to the inner stiles |4 near their edges byanysuitable means, as for example, by welding, and forming with saidinner faces guide channels into and along which the sides of said doorare adapted to travel in their vertical movement. The upper ends 45 ofthese guides 45 are desirably flared to facilitate threading of the door25 therein. These guides 45 serve not only as runways for the sides ofthe door 29, as'said'door is moved up and down over the door opening i3,but also serve to maintain said door against the inner face of thestiles l4, so that the sides of said opening are substantially sealed bysaid door against the entry of dust or fumes. I

e As another feature of the present invention, the door 20 ismanipulated into open or closed position through the o'peration of arotatable member 50 desirably in the form of a hand-knob, mounted on oneof thestiles |4 framing one side of the opening 13, and disposed in thelower end thereof, so that said knob is easily accessible formanipulation. The reel device 2| is operated from the knob 50 to wind orunwind the flexible door 23 by means of a transmission between saiddoor-knob. c andsaicL reeLdevice; 21.... In. the.

faces of the sition without the use of bolts, nuts or other fas-. lo

specific form shown, this transmission includes a sheave or pulley 5| onthe inner side of the stile I4, having a drive connection with the knob50 through a clutch to be described, a sheave or pulley 52 fixed to oneend of the reel axle 31, a pair of idler pulleys 53 mounted for rotationon a stud shaft 54affixed to one of theside bracket arms 21, and anendless chain or belt 55 passing over the two pulleys 5| and 52, andhaving one side run passing over one of the idlers 53, and its otherside run passing over the other idler pulley 53, In this arrangement,the idler pulleys 53 serve not only to locate the two side runs of thebelt 55, but also serve as slack adjustment for said belt. The sizeratio between pulleys 5| and 52 is such that one or two turns of theoperating knob will completely open or completely close the cabinet door20.

Easy operation of the door 2|} through manipulation of the knob 50 isassured by means of a compensating spring in the form of a coil springloosely encircling one end of the axle 37 between a bracket side arm 21-and an adjoining disc wheel 38, and havingits ends secured to said sidearm and said reel disc respectively. This spring 55 serves tocounterbalance the weight of the door 2|) when said door is in partlyclosed position.

To prevent the door 20 from drifting up or down due to any slightvariance between the weight of the door and the tension of thecompensating spring 56, there is provided between the operating knob 50andthe pulley 5| a clutch or reel locking device 51, shown in detail inFig. 6. This device 51 comprises an outer clutch ring aflixed to theinner face of the cabinet stile l4, and an inner clutch'disc 6| securedto the pulley 5|, and defining with the outer ring a recess 59. Theinner disc 6| has an outer circular periphery 62 concentric with aninner circular periphery 63 on the outer ring 60, and has a flattersection 64 on which rest two spherical balls 55 and 66. A coil spring 61disposed in the recess 59 between the two balls 65 and 65 normally urgesthese balls apart. The radial distance between the circular peripheries62 and 63 of the two members 6| and Gil is slightly smaller than thediameter of the balls 55 and 55, while the radial distances between theflatter section 64 of the disc BI and the inner circular periphery 63 ofthe outer ring 6|] is slightly larger than the diameter of these balls.As a result of the spreading action of the spring 6'! on the two balls55 and 56, these balls are normally wedged between the ring 50 and thedisc 6| in the position shown in Fig. 6, thus locking said disc againstrotation. Since the disc 6| is fast to the pulley 5|,

said pulley is also looked against rotation, $01

that the reel 2|, through the medium of the belt 55, is held againstrotation. The door 20 is thereby retained in any selected positionagainst drifting movement.

In order to release the reel locking device so that the reel 2| ispermitted to turn, there is provided a floating disc 10' having a web.secured to the shaft 12 of the operating knob 50, and a circular axialflange 13 extending into the recess 59 between the peripheries 62 and 63'of the members SI and 60. This flange 13 has a section thereof cut awayto receive the ball and spring assembly 65, 56 and 61 between the endsthereof.

cular slot 15 in the web H of said floating disc.

While the hand-knob 50 is free frommanipulae, I

tion, the pin 14 extends substantially centrally of the slot 75, asshown in Fig. 6.

With the reel locking device 51 as described, when, for example, it isdesired to raise the door 20, the knob 50 is rotated clockwise, as shownin Fig. 6, to rotate the, floating disc in a corresponding direction.The initial clockwise move: ment of the floating disc 10 will cause oneend of its flange 13 to engage the wedge ball 65. and thereby move saidball towards. the wider sec.- tion of the recess 59 between the members6]! and 6|,- thus freeing the disc 6| to which the pulley 5| is afiixedfor clockwise rotation. This initial movement of the floating disc: H1is not transmitted to the disc 6|, because of thelost. motion connectionbetween the elongated slot and the pin 14. A further clockwise rotation.

of the knob 50 will cause the pin Ill to be engaged by the end of theelongated slot 15, so that the clutch disc 6| is driven clockwise. Thisvclock wise movement of the clutch disc 6| is transmit?- ted to thepulley 5|, andin turn to the reel de: vice. through the belt 55, asalready described- When it is desired to lower the door 2.0, the knob 50is rotated in a counterclockwise direc: tion (Fig. 6), and this Will inturn first release the ball 65 from wedging position in the recess 59between the two members 6!}. and El, and then will establish a driveconnection between the disc 6| and the operating knob 50 through-the pinand slot arrangement 1.4 and 1.5, so that further counterclockwiserotation of said knob will cause said door to be lowered.

As. another feature of the present invention, means are provided forlimiting the opening and closing movement of the door 20, so that saiddoor will come to adead stop, when it is come pletely closed or when it.is completely open, re. gardless of any manipulation of the turningknob. 59. This limiting device, shown in Figs. 3 andfi, comprises a feedscrew 80 passing through one of. the side bracket arms 21, and havingthreads ed thereon a nut 8| which is rigidly attached to the inner faceof said side bracket arm by any suitable means, and which serves as. oneof the.

limit stops for the door 20. This teed screw 80 is adjustably held in:position against axial and rotational movement by means of a lock nut 82threaded .on said screw, and engaging the outer.

face of the side bracket arm 2]. Integral or otherwise rigid with theinner end of the screw 80 is a head 83, serving as the other limit stopfor the door 20..

The reel axle 31 is hollow, and the two stops 8| and 83 on the screw 80extend into one end of said axle with a snug rotative fit, and therebyconjointly serve as a trunnion to rotatably support said axle at saidend. The other end section of the axle 31 is journalled in one of theside bracket arms 2! in any suitable manner.

As the turning knob 5|) is rotated, the axle 3'! is rotated in acorresponding direction. In order to bring the axle v31 to a dead stopwhen the door reaches the limit of its open or closed position, there isthreaded on the feed screw 8|! a sleeve 35. This sleeve .85. has a lug.86 extending longitudinally thereof and projecting therefrom through anelongated slot 81 along the axle 31, so that a connection is establishedbetween the sleeve 85-and the axle 31, oausing 'said sleeve to rotatewith said axle while permitting it to slide axially therealong. In orderthat the axle 31 6. come to a dead stop at the end of the movement ofthe sleeve 85, the ends of said sleeve .are provided with helical clutchconformations 88 and 89, each defining a clutch tooth, and the two fixedstops 8| and B3 are provided with corresponding helical clutchconformations 9|! and 9| adapted to interlock through interengagingclutch teeth with the conformations 88 and 89 respectively, when thesleeve reaches the ends of its slide movement. The pitch of the helicalconformations 88, 89, and 9| corresponds to that of the feed screw Bi],and the position of the sleeve 8.5 is so adjusted with respect to thestops 8| and 83 as to cause, the conformations 88 and 9a) and theconformations 89 and 9| to come to full conforming interlockingengagement as shown in Fig. 5 when the sleeve 85 reaches the end of; itsslide movement.

With the door stop limiting mechanism de= scribed, as the reel 2| isrotated in one direca tion, its axle 37 is correspondingly rotated, so

that the sleeve 85 through the lug and slot con-:-

nection 86 and .81 is rotated around the feed screw .89. This causes thesleeve 85 to be fed axially along the feed screw 80 until it reachesv sothat the sleeve 85. is locked against further.

rotation. This in turn locks the reel axle 31. against rotation, so thatthe door 28 remains in itscompleteiy open or completely closed position.When the reel 2| is rotated in an, opposite direc.-. tion through propermanipulation of the knob .59, then the reel axle 3'! will be rotated ina diI'GG': tion to release the sleeve v8.5 from lookin engage= ment withone of the stops 8| or .83, and cause it to move towards lockingengagement with the other stop.

loosening the lock nut 82 and adjusting the a-x-ialv position of thefeed screw 80 with respect to the fixed stop. Bil, the position .of theother stop 83 with respect to said step: 8| is corre.-.spendinglyadjusted, andv the limiting travel of the door 253 isaccordingly varied.

By meansof the construction of the present invention, the door 2.0 canbe raised by Simple manipulation .of the turning knob 5a, so as toprogressively expose the interior of the cabinet m from the bottom up.No backstepping of the person manipulating the turning knob 5a? isnecessary, nor is there. any possibility of head accidents from the door26, as in the case of the ordinary hinged cabinet door. Furthermore, theopening .of the door 29 progressively from the bottom up permitsexposure of only the bottom shelves where the articles. more frequentlyhandled are stored, while the upper shelves, where the articles lessfrequently handled. are stored, remain protectively covered by the partially closed door-.20..

Moreover, a flexible rolling door 26, such as that of the presentinvention, lends itself effec= tively to ornamental design. For example,the door 26' may be .constructed and designed to match the Venetianblinds of a kitchen or other room where the cabinet I0 is mounted, andthe door slats '23 may be colored or otherwise orna mented to conformwith any desired decorative pattern.

When it is desired, for example, to clean the interior of the cabinetH3, or to repair the flexible door structure, the whole structure may beremoved as a unit from the cabinet, by the mere operation of lifting themounting bracket 26 off the supporting books 32.

Although only one flexible door structure is shown, it must beunderstood that each of these structures would be repeated for each dooropening l3.

As many changes can be made in the above device, and many apparentlywidely difierent embodiments of this invention can be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cabinet having a door opening, a flexible rolling door for saidopening, a winding reel for one end of said door supported on an axleand rotatable therewith, and stop means for blocking rotation of saidreel when said door reaches either one of its limiting positions, and.comprising a member extending into said axle from one end thereof, andserving as a trunnion for said axle.

2. In a cabinet having a door opening, a flexible rolling door for saidopening, a winding reel for one end of said door rigidly supported on anaxle having a slot extending lengthwise thereof, and stop means forblocking rotation of said reel when said door reaches either one of twolimiting positions, and comprising a feed screw extending lengthwiseinto said axle and supported against rotation, a sleeve threaded on saidscrew in said axle, and having a member projecting therefrom into saidslot, whereby said sleeve rotates with said axle but is slidabletherealong, and stop members adapted to be engaged by said sleeve whensaid door reaches either one of said limiting positions, said sleeve andsaid stop members having complemental clutch teeth conformations adaptedto interlock when said sleeve reaches said stop members, whereby furtherrotation of said sleeve, and in turn said reel, is blocked, said stopmembers being adjustable with respect to said sleeve to alter thelimiting positions of said door.

.3. In a cabinet having a door opening, a flexible rolling door for saidopening, a winding reel for one end of said door, manual control meansfor turning said reel a pair of stop members for blocking rotation ofsaid reel when said door reaches either one of two preselected limitingpositions independently of said control means, means for adjustingeither of said stop members to adjustably vary selectively either one ofsaid door limiting positions, and means for operatively supporting saidwinding reel in any adjusted positions of said stop members.

4. In a cabinet having a door opening, a flexible rolling door for saidopening, a winding reel for one end of said door, manual control meansfor turning said reel, and clutch means holding said door in anyselected position against drifting movement.

5. In a cabinet having a door opening, a flexible rolling door for saidopening, a winding reel for one end of said door, clutch means holdingsaid door in any selected position against drifting movement, and acontrol member for releasing said clutch and turning said reel.

6. In a cabinet having a door opening, a flexible rolling door for saidopening, a winding reel for. one end of said door, a manually rotatablecontrol member,: and a drive transmission be..-..:-

tween saidcontrol member and said reel for ro,-. tating said .reeluponrotation of said control member, and including a clutch member having afixed element, arotatable element constituting a drive part of saidtransmission, a coupling between said rotatable .element, and saidcontrol member, means for normallycoupling said ro.-.

tatable clutch element to said fixed element to hold said .door in anyselected position against.

drifting movement, and means for releasing the coupling engagementbetween when said control member is turned to cause rotary movement ofsaid reel through said control.

member.

. 7.. In a cabinet having adoor opening, a flexi-' ble. rolling door forsaid opening, a windingreel, for one end of said door, manual controlmeans. for turning said. reel, stop means forblockingz further. rotationof, said reel when said doorreaches a limiting position, and comprisinga feed screw, means supporting said feed screwfor. axial adjustingmovement, a sleeve threadedon. said screw and rotatable with said reelover said. feed screw, a stop member adapted to be engaged by saidsleeve when said door reaches said limiting position, said stop-memberbeing rigid with.

said feed screw, whereby the limiting position of said door can beadjusted by adjusting the axial.

position of said feed screw, and means for supporting said winding reelin any axially adjusted position of said feed screw.

8. In a cabinet having a door opening, a 1101;; low axle, a flexiblerolling door for said opening,

a winding reel for one end of said door supported on said axle androtatable therewith, stop means for blocking rotation of said reel whensaid door.

reaches substantially either completely closed or. completely opened,position, and comprising a. feed screwextending lengthwise into saidaxle... a sleeve threaded on said screw in said axle,= and having aconnection with said axle whereby" said sleeve rotates around said feedscrew with 3. said axle but is slidable therealong, stop members alongthe path of sliding movement of said sleeve adapted to be engaged bysaid sleeve when said door reaches substantially either completelyclosed or completely opened position, one of said. a stop members beingrigid with said screw, means supporting said screw for axial adjustingmove-- ment in said axle to permit adjustments in the relative positionof said stop members, and means for supporting said winding reel in anyaxially adjusted position of said screw.

WILLIAM J. DOBKIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 537,351 Neuenschwander Apr. 9,1895 698,475 Ebner Apr. 29, 1902 929,742 Wilson Aug. 3, 1909 983,663White Feb. 7, 1911 987,155 McCloud Mar. 21, 1911 1,187,077 MacCune June13, 1916 1,392,918 Cornell Oct. 11, 1921 2,032,951 Pixley Mar. 3, 19362,187,004 Wolf Jan. 16, 1940 2,341,123 Schweller Feb. 8, 1944 saidelements,

